Slave Pen at the Underground Rail

Carl Westmoreland looks over the jail used to hold slaves.
(Photo by Patrick Reddy/The Cincinnati Enquier)

Jake Thamann climbs along the side of a jail used to hold slaves as he takes measurements of the building.
(Photo by Patrick Reddy/The Cincinnati Enquirer)

Timberframes Limited out of Hamilton, Ohio took down and reconstructed this period slave pen.
(Photo by Steven M. Herppich/The Cincinnati Enquier)

Job superintendent Ben Nwankwo talks with timber framers D.J. Gaker and Mike Goldberg during the reconstruction of a period slave pen at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.
(Photo by Steven M. Herppich/The Cincinnati Enquier)
An eye ring, secured through a floor joist on a spike, was used to hold a chain to which a slave’s shackles were attached. The rings were in each of the joists along the center of the room; a chain was passed through the eye rings and each slave was chained to a central chain.
(Photo by Patrick Reddy/The Cincinnati Enquirer)


A conceptual drawing shows the restored slave pen in the Freedom Center’s second-level atrium.
(Submitted to The Cincinnati Enquier)